Problem Recognition
The Jones Blair Company is a small paint (coatings) producer in the southwestern United States. The company plant and headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas; and it does most of its business within this 11 county Dallas-Fort-Worth region, and also Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana. Currently the company sells top quality architectural paint and accessories to various markets. The company also sells OEM materials to domestic and international customers. Jones Blair is currently looking for solutions for marketing their architectural coatings and sundries.
Jones Blair mainly deals with customers looking for a high end product. They strive to produce top quality coatings by continually researching and developing new solutions. This has led the Jones Blair product to be the highest priced product on the market. Jones Blair caters to mainly do-it-yourself customers (50% of sales) and professional painters (25% of sales) looking for great point of purchase service, ease of application, and durability.
The Jones Blair Company has increased sales on an annual basis, but the sales volume has stayed the same. This is due to the high cost of research and development in their products. The company is in fear of facing a plateau in price and being able stay competitive in the industry. Jones Blair needs to determine where and how the company will market its architectural products in the southern US.
Currently, the company employs eight sales reps to manage the inventory and customer expectation at the companies 200 cooperative retail outlets. The company spends roughly 3% of net sales ($12,000,000*.03= $360,000). Of this 55% is spent on cooperative advertising ($360,000*.55= $198,000). ...